[dramatic theme music playing]
[music ends]
[fans chanting]
- [interviewer] Can you see anything?
- Yeah.
- [cameraman] Getting ready to roll.
- [interviewer] What can you see?
Champions League final in Istanbul.
[tense music playing]
[commentator] We're about
to get underway here.
Liverpool against AC Milan.
Just nervous watching this.
[Andy Gray] No one gave
Liverpool any chance whatsoever
at the start of this campaign.
If someone would have told me
we would be in the Champions League final,
I'd have thought you were a madman.
We were a very average team.
But we'd been on this magical journey
that we didn't expect,
and we were now in Istanbul.
[commentator] Liverpool standing
on the threshold of history
but against a star-studded Milan team.
Wow. That's what we face.
[crowd cheering]
[Steven Gerrard] Every single player
was world-class.
[commentator] Listen to this atmosphere.
They're really going to
make themselves heard tonight.
We felt the expectation
from the Liverpool fans.
[Hamann] There was that weight
on your shoulders of a whole city
waiting for that final for so long.
[commentator] Tonight is the chance
to make up for lost time.
Twenty-one years waiting
for this major trophy.
[Carragher] The closer
you get to the kick-off,
the more you start believing you can win.
We knew this was our chance
to create history.
[whistle blowing]
[commentator] And it's in!
It's two-nil Milan!
And it is three-nil!
[Carragher] The biggest game of your life
is turning into
the biggest nightmare of your life.
[commentator] This could be the heaviest
ever defeat in a Champions League final.
[co-commentator] They've been outclassed.
Totally outclassed.
At three-nil, it is over.
[whistle blowing]
[commentator] There is
the half-time whistle.
[Carragher] I'd never felt
more low as a footballer.
We were going to create history
for all the wrong reasons.
[commentator] This is just
absolutely awful for Liverpool.
[co-commentator] They're absolutely
all over the place.
This is very, very embarrassing.
You've got to get into that dressing room,
and get hold of it.
[commentator] No chance really
for Liverpool.
Liverpool need a miracle here.
[Carragher] Since that night,
I can't go anywhere in the world
without someone asking me
what happened at half-time.
[players shouting]
The question I always get is,
"What happened at half-time?"
I'm still trying to work it out.
[commentator] Just when
you think you've seen it all.
[seagulls squawking]
What I notice on a lot
of documentaries now, this bit now,
where it's all like quiet,
that gets shot a bit, and gets put in.
[coughs] While they're waiting
for the first question.
Pensive.
[sound man] Give us
a few words will you, Jamie?
Liverpool, Istanbul, AC Milan,
Netflix, blockbuster.
[sound man] Banging. Sold it at the end.
[interviewer] So, where would
you start this story, Jamie?
Uh
For me,
the story starts
miles away from Liverpool,
in the summer of 2004,
in Portugal.
[fans cheering]
[reporter] In Lisbon tonight,
the England team bus took the players
to a heavily guarded hotel on a hill
that they hope will be
their home until early July.
[gentle, melodic music playing]
[Carragher] It's the
European Championships.
I'm there with the England squad,
alongside Michael Owen
and Steven Gerrard from Liverpool.
Even though we're there with England,
all three of us
used to think about Liverpool a lot.
- [photographer] Just a bit forward, Jamie.
- Yeah.
I found it difficult
to switch off from the club.
[photographer] Straight down the lens.
Jamie Carragher, defender.
Maybe one of the reasons why
England were never that successful.
Steven Gerrard, midfielder.
- [interviewer] Are you all right there?
- Yeah, I'm fine.
I'm going to have a sore backside
eventually, but I'm all right for now.
[photographer] Just look
straight down the lens,
and say, "Michael Owen, striker."
- Where am I facing? Square on?
- [interviewer] Face me, yeah.
All three of us, we'd all been
at Liverpool since we were that big.
Some will say I haven't grown much since.
Liverpool Football Club
ran through our veins.
This is my bed and my side of the room
where I keep posters
to remind me of Liverpool.
We would die for Liverpool Football Club.
[reporter] When did you come to Liverpool?
When did you first come?
I was about nine or ten.
[reporter] What number would you like
to wear at this club when you make it?
Number eight.
There's something special and a bit
different when you come through the ranks.
There's definitely more of a bond.
There's more of a feeling of loyalty
and wanting to do well for the club.
Liverpool Football Club
was my love and passion.
We lived and breathed it,
and loved it and dreamt about it.
In Portugal, there was a little bit of
uncertainty around the Liverpool players.
[Carragher] Our manager's gone.
Liverpool manager's gone.
After six seasons in charge,
the manager of Liverpool
has left the club.
The first manager to be sacked
by the club since 1959.
When I was a kid, Liverpool
were one of the best teams in Europe.
Four European Cups.
[commentator 1] Liverpool are
European Champions for the fourth time.
We'd fell a long way from that.
We were not competing with the top teams.
[commentator 2] Pulled back and it's put
in for an own goal! Despair for the Reds!
The league form was average,
cup form was average.
Performances were not very good.
[commentator 3] Oh, that was wild.
[commentator 4] And it's gone in!
Humiliating for Liverpool.
[Owen] The team, there were
some players in there that you think,
"If Liverpool are going to win a trophy,
they have to change that player"
You feel frustrated
that we're not winning.
[commentator 5] Steven Gerrard
is sent off!
That was a challenge that
perhaps shows the frustration
that he's been feeling.
Everybody would have
felt that frustration.
We'd fallen away.
How do we arrest the slide?
[commentator 6] I grew up
on Liverpool dominating.
- Will they ever compete again at the top?
- [co-commentator] You've got no chance.
[fan on radio] I'm absolutely disgusted.
I've been crying this afternoon.
The Liverpool motto used to be,
"First is best and second's nothing."
I really do think that there needs
to be some new thinking at Anfield.
[reporter] For the Liverpool players
at the England training camp,
the departure of the manager from Anfield
has been a major distraction.
It was the topic of conversation
amongst the Liverpool members
of the England squad here today.
I went to the tournament with
the hope of parking all the noise up
and focusing on the England team,
but it was impossible.
All of a sudden, we heard news that
a new manager had been appointed.
There was an element of excitement.
"I wonder what
this new manager's going to be like."
But also, "Where is the club going?"
[reporter] The paper here in Liverpool
has the question on everyone's lips.
"Who's next to take over at Anfield?"
[Parry] We're very pleased to announce
that Rafael Bentez is joining us today
as manager, on a five-year contract.
At the club,
there was a feeling
that we'd lost our way.
We had to make a change,
and the obvious place to start
is to look for somebody
who had a track record of winning
one of Europe's major leagues.
[all cheering]
He has an outstanding track record.
Two Spanish league titles in three years
I think speaks for itself.
[reporter] Seor Bentez,
welcome to Anfield.
- Thank you.
- Congratulations.
How important is it that you keep
Liverpool's best players
that they have at the moment?
Because we had fallen away,
I was really concerned that
we were going to lose
Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard,
demonstrably the best players in the club.
Steven was club captain.
[commentator 1] Gerrard Nice strike!
Oh, he is a magnificent player!
[Parry] Massive heart, great passion.
[commentator 2] Steven Gerrard Great
effort! What a wonderful goal by Gerrard!
[Parry] The embodiment
of what Liverpool was all about.
[commentator 3] Owen Great balance.
Gerrard! Three for Liverpool and
Michael Owen at the hub of it.
[Parry] Michael, he'd been a star player.
[commentator 4] European Footballer
of the Year.
[Parry] He had immense pace,
great goalscorer.
[commentator 5] Vaults the first challenge
and the second. Brilliant!
What a goal!
[commentator 6] Michael Owen,
a goal machine.
[Parry] If we were
to get back to winning ways,
we saw them as being
very much at the heart of the team.
[commentator 7] Gerrard
That's a brilliant ball! That's dazzling!
That Gerrard-Owen partnership once more!
How critical for your plans
is it that they stay?
I I want to talk with them
about, uh, my ideas.
- Okay? Thank you very much.
- Thank you very much. Thank you.
[Parry] Rafa's first task
was to go to Portugal to make sure
that those key players stayed.
[reporter] If the club are going to
hold on to their big stars in future,
they're going to have to start winning,
and keep winning,
to compete at the very highest level.
Meeting the new Liverpool manager
was important for me,
but it was more important
that Rafa Bentez was meeting
Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen.
They were very disillusioned
with what was going on at the club.
I'm thinking, I've only got one career.
I might have to
think about other alternatives
to try get the best out of my career.
[Gerrard] The England players were talking
to me about it. "Come and sign for us."
People were knocking at my hotel door,
"Why don't you sign for us?"
[Carragher] I was thinking,
"I hope this manager has got the words
that these two want to hear."
- [Bentez] Spanish or English?
- [interviewer] Whichever feels natural.
[Bentez] Ready? Ah.
Okay?
Sound is fine, position is fine,
questions are fine?
We were told he was
coming in to introduce himself.
He wanted to say hello and break the ice.
All of a sudden, we're going into a room
I'm expecting this spiel of
how great players we are,
how he's going
to build this team around them
and we got the opposite of that.
- Are you recording?
- [sound man] Yes.
Yeah. Now listen to me.
[Carragher] He started moving
Stevie about on this board.
He was on me, tactically.
"I don't want this, I don't want that."
"This is a problem.
You need to change this."
"You run around too much."
"You can't play in this team
unless we trust you." It was intense.
[Carragher] I remember Rafa Bentez's
words to Michael were,
"You need to learn
to turn on the ball quicker."
Oh my word! I've never, ever had someone
saying anything like that to me before.
[scoffing] I was like
That's absolutely what I was probably
the best in the world at, at the time.
I was thinking, "Oh no"
I don't think
this is what he wants to hear.
That's when we started thinking
[scoffs]
"This is different."
This was different.
It just felt different.
Really different.
Quite negative.
And I was thinking to meself,
I guarantee you,
you'll need me before I need you.
He certainly
didn't go any way to convincing me
to stay, put it that way.
[interviewer] How did you
feel the meeting went?
You can see when you talk with someone
if he's, uh, happy with the conversation.
I think, yeah, they were
They were quite happy.
and the Liverpool striker, Michael Owen,
is on his way to Spain's Real Madrid.
[reporter] The player, once known
as Liverpool's boy wonder,
is leaving the club
he joined at the age of 11.
[in Spanish] Good morning, everyone.
[in English] I'd like to say
a special thank you
for giving me the opportunity
to play for the best team in the world.
- [in Spanish] Thank you very much.
- [audience applauding]
[in English] I can remember
finding it hard to actually say,
"Yes, I want to go."
Because, obviously,
I'd been at Liverpool all my life,
but I sort of thought I should.
Real Madrid were
the most successful team in Europe,
and I think most people
will get lured
by the chance to win silverware.
[reporter 1] News
of Michael Owen's departure
is just filtering
through to fans here at Anfield.
[reporter 2] This really is
the end of an era.
For the last 13 years, Michael Owen's star
has shone brightly from this
most illustrious of football grounds.
[fan 1 on radio] What are we gonna do?
I just think it's just not good enough.
[fan 2] We seem to be going backwards.
[reporter 2] The news will be a major blow
to both the Liverpool supporters and
to Michael Owen's now ex-teammates.
[Gerrard] I felt frustrated.
I was gutted.
But part of me understood it at the time,
but part of me hated it,
because I'm thinking,
if Michael goes, I'm further away
from where I want to go.
I wanted to win and I wanted Liverpool
to be successful, like when I grew up.
["Smalltown Boy" by Bronski Beat playing]
[Gerrard] I was a tearaway kid
on a council estate.
From two, three, four years of age,
I'd be on a bit of waste ground, kicking
anything I could find that was round.
Rolled-up socks, fruit
Coming in with gravel,
burns and blood all over me.
I'd walk to school
thinking I was a football player.
I'd talk to meself about football players.
And it was a real serious, scary obsession
for Liverpool Football Club.
The first time I sampled Anfield,
I was six, seven years of age.
You just can't describe it.
It's just great, you know?
It's just fabulous!
[Gerrard] Feeling love and passion.
[commentator] Comes to Rush!
This is like a drug. This is good.
They're the moments that grab me.
[reporter] And there it is,
the trophy of the season,
won by the English champions, Liverpool.
[Gerrard] The legacy of the European Cups.
I had exactly the same dreams
that I wanted to achieve.
[music stops]
But when you don't feel
like that's possible
it's frustrating.
That team wasn't good enough
to win the Champions League.
That team wasn't competitive
at domestic level.
It was miles away.
That's why Michael Owen left Liverpool.
[reporter] Perched precariously
and intrigued,
Liverpool's fans have been using anything
to get a glimpse of their team this week,
as the squad gathered for
the first time ahead of the new season.
[Hamann] At the start of 2004, I was going
into the last year of my contract.
Liverpool was the love of my life.
I wanted to stay at Liverpool
for as long as I could.
[Dudek] Is someone making the picture?
I need this picture for Instagram later.
[in Polish] I was 31
in the 2004/05 season.
I'd been at Liverpool for three years.
But sometimes my focus would fail me.
[commentator in English] Oh, he's
dropped it, Dudek, and Forlan puts it in!
What a howler!
[Dudek in Polish] I hated myself for that.
All you read in the newspaper
is how the coach
will definitely need a new goalkeeper.
I hope people will understand me
with my French accent.
I'd been in Liverpool for many years,
but me, personally,
I was like in and out of the squad.
I didn't play that many games.
But when Rafa arrived, it was like
everybody started in the same spot.
So I'm thinking like, "Yes, okay,
maybe I have the opportunity to play."
[Warnock] I've been part of
the Liverpool system for 13 years.
I'd gone from being sent out on loan
to suddenly now having a new manager
that I'm hoping wants to give me
that chance to play
and to showcase what I can do.
[Mellor] I was
a relatively unknown player.
I played four reserve games,
scored ten goals.
But there was rumors,
Rafa Bentez, he's been watching
a few reserve games.
So I was thinking,
"Okay. If he's watching them,
I've got a chance of being involved."
[Hamann] When a new manager comes in,
you don't want to give him
an option not to pick you.
Especially when you want another contract,
and you don't have
many good years ahead of you.
[laughing]
[Carragher] Didi Hamann
was one of my big mates.
Rafa would have been expecting
this stereotype, disciplined German.
And he was the opposite of that.
Yeah, I had the odd smoke
and I had the odd pint.
Smoked ten a day. Ten, 12 a day,
because I felt I needed it.
I don't think it affected me physically,
because if I felt it did,
uh, I would have stopped.
Easy as that.
[coughing]
When Didi Hamann would come in,
he'd drinking water of a morning,
that was code, for basically he's had
a few bevvies the night before.
I remember my first night out with Didi.
He's only been at the club about a week.
We're having a great night out.
Time to go, but we can't get a taxi.
Didi said,
"I tell you what, I'll get you a taxi."
I'm thinking, "How the f*ck's
he know how to get a taxi?"
He just sprawled himself out
in the middle of the road.
I said, "I'm just lying down on the road,
because otherwise nobody will stop."
You can't get a cab, you want to get home,
you want to get to bed,
and you've got to train the next day.
So we get him in a taxi.
He's just about leaving,
the window's coming down,
and he's got his head out the window,
and he's going, "Where do I live?"
[chuckles]
I haven't got a clue, lad. I'm off.
So hopefully the new manager can sort
the players out and get that extra
bit out of them, like.
[Carragher] I think early,
Rafa was looking at the team,
thinking, "This is not a quick fix."
When Liverpool came to sign me,
they told me, "We have to compete
against the best in Europe."
But from day one,
I could see that we didn't have
11 top-class players,
and we didn't have a top squad,
so we have to compete
with them in another way.
[upbeat music playing]
[Carragher] Training under Rafa,
it was a bit weird.
There'd be no ball,
and there'd just be cones
all around the pitch,
and Rafa would say,
"Right, the ball's at cone A,
the ball's at cone D,
the ball's at cone F,"
and we'd all have to
run to where we should be.
[Warnock] It was completely different
to what I was used to.
It felt very regimented.
And then he'd be looking at
all the players, and then he'd say,
"You need to be two yards higher.
You need to be one yard further right."
"You need to be two yards inside."
He saw us as pawns on a chessboard,
or as numbers.
[in Polish] It was so unusual to work with
someone with such attention to detail.
And everyone was thinking,
"Damn! Why are we doing this?"
[Bentez] I'm quite perfectionist,
so I like to go into details.
I like to analyze things.
Just one centimeter higher or lower,
that is the difference between
success sometimes and defeat.
This has always been my way of life.
[gentle music playing]
[Bentez in Spanish] As a little boy,
my dad gave me a notebook.
I'd spend a long time
thinking about things,
going over and over things in my head.
And I'd write down every line-up
in this notebook,
from every game for my school team.
I'd write down stats, such as goals,
average ratings, shots on goal.
I started to analyze the movements
and characteristics of the game.
Without realizing it, I had
this way of perceiving football.
I'd then pass this on to the players,
to improve each player
and the team a bit more.
Small details make the difference.
With this in mind, you perfect your game.
[reporter] Let the games begin!
Welcome to Gillette Soccer Saturday,
on the first day of a brand-new season
after one of
the most dramatic summers on record.
I see myself next to the Stevie G.
[Carragher] I think it's fair to say the
start of that season under Rafa Bentez
was a bit of a nightmare.
[commentator 1] Good turn of speed and
a great ball in. It must be. And it is!
One-nil Bolton Wanderers!
Giggs kicks, Silvestre again!
Liverpool's Spanish Inquisition
may be just about to begin.
[Gerrard] Worst possible start.
This is exactly what we didn't want.
[pundit] Another horror show,
devoid of quality, devoid of ideas,
but the biggest criticism
was devoid of fight.
[commentator 1] Oh,
Alonso's given it to Downing!
I remember that game, yeah.
[commentator 1] Middlesbrough
coming forward again.
- Hasselbaink. He's found Zenden!
- [crowd cheering]
That was a bad one, that.
[commentator 2] Liverpool fans are leaving
before the end of the match.
They've seen enough.
[fan 1 on radio] They're wearing
the shirt. For God's sake, play for it!
[commentator 3] It's Cole
It's found a way in!
[fan 2 on radio] There's no passion,
there's no drive, it's hard to watch.
Bentez needs to get a grip.
[commentator 4] Crouch is unmarked.
Far post. Here he is!
[Hamann] Even Crouchy scored against us.
That's how bad it was.
[laughing sardonically]
[commentator 5] Wright-Phillips away.
Carragher's touch left Dudek
with something to do. It's Anelka!
sh*t.
[commentator 5] Another nightmare
game to forget
for Liverpool's keeper, Jerzy Dudek.
[fan 3 on radio] Dudek is a complete waste
of space, and it's just not good enough.
[Dudek] This season was
the toughest in my football career.
[commentator 6] Chaplow.
Oh God, this is the one.
[commentator 6] Oh, it's an own goal!
Djimi Traor's put through
his own net in comic style!
What was Traor thinking of?
It was a great finish for the defender.
[commentator 6] Burnley, their first FA
Cup goal against Liverpool for 36 years.
[fan 4 on radio] I can't believe
how poor we were.
Liverpool were just absolutely awful.
Even in Europe, we were really poor.
Very, very poor.
[commentator 7] Liverpool are on the rack!
Oh, what a goal!
[fan 5 on radio] All of them players who
played last night were a waste of space.
I'm thinking to meself,
this couldn't be going any worse.
[commentator 8] Saviola!
[Gerrard] In Europe, there's
an expectation from the Liverpool fans.
I felt all the emotions.
Worthless, useless, not good enough.
[commentator 9] No points,
so Liverpool are taking
their European destiny right to the wire.
One more chance when Olympiacos come
to Anfield in a couple of weeks' time.
[Carragher] There were times
when you thought,
will we ever get back to being a big club?
[fan 1 on radio] I can't remember
for a long time seeing them play that bad.
[fan 2] There's no passion,
there's no desire. It's rubbish.
[fan 3] I really do care
about Liverpool so badly.
See, it hurts.
It's like a physical pain with me.
[Carragher] It can be tough mentally
when things aren't going well.
You can feel the emotions in the city.
[fan 4] Could we show a bit of passion?
Could we show a little commitment?
[Carragher] We've got emotional
football clubs. It's an emotional city.
And the people in it are emotional.
[fan 5] He should've been apologizing
to the Liverpool fans there last night.
[fan 6] The team is not playing football
the way Liverpool usually play football.
No fight, no soul, no passion.
[Bentez in Spanish] When
I joined Liverpool,
there was a culture based on emotion.
Football requires more than that.
If you're really emotional,
you don't find the way to success.
[singers] Stratego!
[man in English] It's Stratego,
Milton Bradley's
terrific game of strategy for two.
Fast, easy to play, and exciting
[Bentez] As a child,
my father bring me the game, Stratego.
In Spain at this time,
it was the only one.
[calming music playing]
In the summer,
we're going to the mountains in Madrid.
We have competitions
between all our friends.
I had a schoolmate that was very good.
And I lost one day and I was so upset.
I was crying at home, in my room.
[in Spanish] Defeat teaches you
much more than victory.
And I started to realize
it's more important to play
with your head than with your heart.
I didn't lose again.
You've got to teach your players
you must play with your head
and not just your heart.
[no audible dialogue]
[Gerrard in English] Me game,
it was about emotion.
Passion, desire, commitment.
For the badge,
for the bird, for the family.
It was in me,
and I felt like he wanted to
really remodel me and change me.
Nothing would ever satisfy him.
[Bentez in Spanish] I like being
demanding of my players.
I think that's the key.
Success comes from this.
[Gerrard in English] I felt like
he didn't rate me,
he didn't trust me, he didn't want me.
I've always been clear
that I want to be a Liverpool player,
and a Liverpool player only.
But with that doubt
and with that coldness,
and being part of a team where you don't
believe you can compete at the top,
that's when your head gets turned.
[reporter] Steven Gerrard's name
is being linked
with a move away from his hometown club.
If they lost a player like Gerrard,
they would have to accept
they're no longer a big club.
From his point of view,
if he wants to become
a top-rated international,
he has to be playing at the highest level,
and he isn't at Liverpool.
Gerrard wants to play regularly
at a world level.
That means Champions League
and playing the Champions League final.
[crowd cheering]
[reporter 1] The countdown to Liverpool's
must-win Champions League game
has well and truly begun.
[reporter 2] Only a win against Greek side
Olympiacos at Anfield
will guarantee progress.
[commentator] It's been
a chill winter for Liverpool.
Seventh in the league,
they're not scoring goals.
They need goals tonight.
They're playing
for their Champions League lives.
[Carragher] It was a massive game.
The only thing that was keeping us going
was the Champions League.
[commentator] Liverpool have
already lost to Olympiacos in Greece.
They are third in their section.
Victory alone might not be
enough to get Liverpool into the last 16.
They need to win and win well.
We had to win by two clear goals.
Winning wasn't enough.
And then the headlines before the game
really ramped up the pressure on us.
[Gerrard] I haven't been happy
with the progression of the club
over the last two years,
and for the first time in me career
I've really thought about,
you know, the possibility of moving on.
I love playing in the Champions League,
but so do the other boys
and we realize how crucial
it is for the football club
and for ourselves individually.
I want to play Champions League football,
it's as simple as that.
[commentator] We're just about ready for
the start of this Champions League match.
All important,
it has to be a win for Liverpool.
Success in Europe
means so much to the fans.
It is part of the heritage,
part of the soul of this club.
Rafa Bentez has decided
to change his goalkeeper.
Jerzy Dudek on the bench
on this crucial night for Liverpool.
[in Polish] Knowing I wasn't playing
was difficult to accept.
It was so important for me
to be the number one keeper.
It was in my DNA.
So it really affected me mentally.
[whistle blowing]
[exciting music playing]
[Gerrard in English] Plan was
to start well, get the fans with us
get ourselves in front.
[commentator] Rivaldo.
[Gerrard] But then all of a sudden
[commentator] Still Rivaldo.
Still Rivaldo!
[whistle blowing]
[tense music playing]
[commentator] This looks tailor-made
for Rivaldo's Brazilian brilliance.
There it goes.
Played it low and Kirkland was nowhere!
It was hit low and into the net!
What a disaster for Liverpool.
And Liverpool will now have to score
at least three goals.
[whistle blowing]
There is the half-time whistle,
and it ain't going Liverpool's way.
[Carragher] At that moment,
I thought Steven Gerrard's
leaving Liverpool Football Club.
[music reverberates, then ends]
[commentator] It's going to take
an enormous effort for Liverpool now.
[Bentez in Spanish] When things
are going badly,
if players are crestfallen
and resigned to their fate,
you've got to provide them
with a solution.
[man in English] Stratego, a strategy game
from Milton Bradley.
[commentator] Rafa Bentez has never been
frightened to make changes.
His changes tonight
have been surprise ones.
The youngsters, Sinama-Pongolle
and Neil Mellor.
[Carragher] Do you think these are gonna
be the players that turn it round for us?
No, not really.
The nervousness, it's hard not to
really feel it as a young player.
We've got to score three goals.
[whistle blowing]
[commentator] The whistle goes
for the start of the second half.
The odds heavily stacked
against Liverpool.
It is going to take a superhuman effort.
[dramatic music playing]
Sinama-Pongolle turns infield.
Sinama-Pongolle still going,
but the pass doesn't find Kewell.
[Bentez in Spanish] Any substitution
is a risk.
- [Tyler in English] Gerrard.
- [co-commentator] What a ball.
[commentator] The roar was for
Mellor ending up on the deck.
[in Spanish] If it works, you're a genius.
If it doesn't, you've made a mistake.
[Gerrard in English] You're having doubts
that naturally come in
because we didn't have an incredible team.
You're thinking, is there enough goals
in this team where we're gonna progress?
We need three.
[exciting music playing]
[co-commentator] Kewell,
kicks on the defender.
Goes past into the penalty area.
Kewell drags it across.
Sinama-Pongolle scores!
That is just what they and Anfield wanted.
It's one-one.
[commentator] So, they need
two more without reply.
There's a chance.
Carragher goes down. No penalty kick.
Then Pongolle crosses.
Chance here. Finnan hits it goalwards.
Stabbed into the net.
Liverpool have scored.
And Neil Mellor has got the goal.
But this might not matter.
We need to score another goal.
[commentator] Ten minutes to go.
[Mellor] It's wave after wave of attack.
[commentator] And it's nervous
for everyone inside Anfield.
[Gerrard] Emotions are
just oozing out me body.
Every counter-press, every forward pass,
you can hear the crowd coming.
That's when you feel the pull.
That is a magical feeling.
[commentator] Carragher.
[Gerrard] Me game
it was about love.
It was about passion.
[commentator] Gerrard!
[co-commentator] You beauty!
What a hit, son! What a hit!
Simply magnificent!
It was a screaming half-foot volley!
Fantastic!
Liverpool three, Olympiacos one.
[commentator] Steven Gerrard.
You cannot imagine Liverpool without him.
Will a place in the last 16
be enough to persuade him to stay?
[presenter] What does tonight mean
to him in terms of his
decision whether to stay or leave?
I don't think one night of football
at Anfield would be enough.
[music fades out]
Steven Gerrard is Liverpool's captain
and he is Liverpool's inspiration.
But for how much longer?
His recent performances for Liverpool
have now caught the attention
of football's biggest spenders, Chelsea.
[tense music playing]
This morning's papers claim
that the Liverpool skipper
is ready to accept a move to Chelsea
with wages worth 125,000 a week.
[reporter] It's the team
that Abramovich bought.
[commentator] Lampard strikes!
Oh, and Lampard scores!
76 million worth of talent
recruited to West London.
Jos Mourinho has taken Chelsea
to another level.
I think I'm a special one.
[Carragher] This was the club everybody
was talking about in European football,
and they wanted to buy
the best players in England and Europe.
And Stevie was both of them.
[Mourinho] Chelsea is always
with the eyes in the top place.
Steven is a fantastic player
and he's doing so well.
I had calls off Chelsea,
and me agent had calls.
Mourinho was on the phone,
the best manager in the world at the time,
offering silly contracts,
which would naturally turn your head.
Chelsea were spending fortunes.
There was guaranteed success there.
Everybody expects them now to go
and win the Champions League.
[reporter] On Liverpool,
do you think Gerrard will go?
[pundit] If those figures,
150,000 a week, are true,
it's extremely difficult
for a player to say,
"I'm not going to move
from this club to that club."
I can't park my relationship up with
Liverpool, the feeling, it's impossible.
But you want to be as
successful as you can.
So when they came,
I didn't know which way to go.
[radio host] Liverpool fans
are kidding themselves
if they think
he's not going to go to Chelsea.
[fan on radio] I've supported
Liverpool for 25 years.
Steven Gerrard, if you're listening,
you're the captain of our great club.
You're a Liverpool-born lad.
If you's going to walk,
that's an absolute disgrace, my mate.
Mentally, I was in a bad place.
Me head was like a box of frogs.
[reporter] Outside Liverpool's training
ground, supporters were making their plea.
[Carragher] Stevie probably needed
an arm round his shoulder then.
Checking how he was,
telling him how great he is.
But Rafa Bentez was never going
to do that. He's very unemotional.
As a coach,
if your best player
is thinking about to leave,
you have to try to understand
the reason why and then to convince him
that we could do something
in a different way.
I'm not very, very emotional outside, no?
So, the only way that I had, uh
Or I could do that is working harder.
[Bentez in Spanish] We make
videos of all the games,
and we analyze everything
that happens on the pitch.
We want to correct a lot of things.
Football is an emotional sport.
But as a coach, you've always
got to be focused on your job,
and not waste a lot of energy
on the noise around you.
[Parry in English] Rafa was fanatical,
morning, noon and night,
talking tactics,
talking the game, talking players.
[Warnock] Whenever I spoke to Rafa,
it was just purely football.
[Bentez] So, who knows
about football a little bit?
Can we take this out?
[Warnock] Football, football, football.
Two strikers, two players defending.
Where is the gap?
Man-to-man, you have to be like that.
Body position.
[Warnock] It's almost like
that's all he knew.
Can you defend him?
- No.
- Because I am blocking you.
[Traor] You can cross him
on the corridor,
you can cross him on the kitchen.
Everything you find, he would talk
about football, move piece, move things.
So how many do we have? Dos, cuatro, seis.
And these players,
they have some freedom to move around.
- [interviewer] Obsessive?
- Yeah, massively obsessive.
[Bentez in Spanish] They thought
I was crazy. But I knew that
my way of working and doing things
has led me to success.
[commentator in English] Bentez,
always instructing.
Super pass, onside, goal!
Hamann.
Oh, it is!
[Carragher] We were starting
to build something.
Getting more used to the manager.
[Bentez] Every system is what I was doing
when I was taking the notes.
This is when I was 19 years old.
All my training sessions.
[commentator] Gerrard goes again. Garca!
Liverpool have got the goal!
It started to click with everyone,
his way he was thinking football.
[commentator] Liverpool are cruising into
the last 8 of the UEFA Champions League.
Players who don't believe
in what you're going to do,
you've got to give them belief.
I thought, we're on the right path here.
[commentator] Luis Garca tries his luck.
Oh, what a goal!
What a goal, what a night!
One of the most mature
and accomplished performances here
by an English team in Europe
that I've seen in many, many years.
[in Spanish] As performances improved,
the players started to believe
we could achieve something big.
[commentator in English] Seconds to go.
Hang on to everything, folks.
It's all over! Liverpool are in
the semi-final of the Champions League.
A tremendous performance from Liverpool,
who can scarcely believe
what they've achieved.
[Carragher] In the back of my mind,
certainly for every Liverpool supporter,
that season was how important this was
to have a good chance
of keeping our captain.
[reporter] In football, there'll be
an all-English semi-final
in the Champions League,
as Liverpool will play Chelsea.
- Oh no.
- [foreboding music playing]
[commentator] Chelsea are the champions!
Never has
the Barclays English Premier League
had more deserving champions.
[Carragher] Chelsea were
the best team in the country.
Their season couldn't be going better.
Campeones!
Campeones! Ol, ol, ol!
There was added significance
in the fact that,
for the last six months,
they'd been trying to buy our captain,
and not being shy about it.
There was an arrogance to Chelsea.
They've got Abramovich's money,
superstar players from all over the world,
and they've got c*ck Mourinho,
and they basically fancy themselves.
[Mourinho] It's very good
to be in the semi-final.
I'm a lucky guy.
I never lost a semi-final in my life.
I arrived here with my ego
[clicks tongue]
-big!
- [reporters laughing]
- Now it's even higher!
- [all laughing]
[commentator] Nothing to separate
Liverpool and Chelsea
going into this second leg.
It will be decided at Anfield tonight.
[reporter] The Reds are the underdogs
against an all-conquering Chelsea,
who've already beaten Rafa Bentez's
side three times this season.
[crowd jeering]
This was big for the club,
it was big for us as a team,
but it was big for me.
Obviously, because I was linked to Chelsea
and the conversations with Mourinho,
because I knew the fans weren't happy,
I wanted to be on the winning side.
[commentator] They always say semi-finals
are the very worst games to lose.
You can see the tension on all the faces.
Jerzy Dudek there only just recalled
to the Liverpool team.
[Dudek in Polish] Rafa came to me
and said
[in English] ''Jerzy,
you're back in business.''
[in Polish] I just told myself,
''You are ready.''
You can definitely feel the tension.
Everyone could feel it.
Rafa, the players, the fans.
[Parry] Rafa had a real focus on Mourinho.
He was the one that he wanted to beat
more than any other.
[interviewer] Did you personally
want to beat Jose?
[in Spanish] What I wanted
was just to win.
I wanted to win for Liverpool.
And then because it was Chelsea,
and Mourinho was coach
It's extra motivation, for sure.
[exciting music playing]
[commentator in English] Tonight,
the fight to a finish.
Either Liverpool or Chelsea
will be Champions League finalists.
[Carragher] It was a cauldron.
It was a concoction
of all different emotions.
It wasn't just about getting behind
Liverpool, it was about stopping Chelsea.
[Bentez] You feel the atmosphere.
But you have to be patient, like in chess.
[exciting music continues]
[commentator] Riise.
Gerrard with space.
Lands it towards Baro.
Was it across the line?
Goal!
[crowd cheering]
[Carragher] Was it a goal?
I don't know,
but I actually hope it wasn't.
[laughing]
Because I know it gets under the skin.
[commentator] But was it a goal?
Very, very tight.
[in Spanish] The reality is
that the goal was given. And that's that.
[commentator in English] Lampard
this time. Oh, really good save by Dudek.
And everyone,
they knew exactly what they had to do.
Play with that, not with that.
[commentator] Terrific challenge,
this time by Gerrard.
We were organized, we were solid.
[commentator] What a tackle
by Jamie Carragher!
It just felt like everything
we'd worked on just came together.
[commentator] Liverpool stand on the brink
of the European Cup final.
All they can do is just sing
their hearts out, will their team home.
- [whistle blowing]
- [crowd cheering]
[triumphant music playing]
[commentator] The time has come
for Liverpool to play
in yet another European Cup final.
Rafa Bentez and his team
have rolled back the years.
It's just like the old days.
[Carragher] Even though they had all
the money, the players, and Jos Mourinho.
But they didn't have our history.
The city.
Anfield.
[commentator] Steven Gerrard,
would he even consider
leaving a club that had
just reached a European Cup final?
A club that is in his blood.
[fans] Bye-bye, Mourinho!
Bye-bye, Mourinho!
Rafa, Rafael! Rafa, Rafael!
Rafael Bentez!
[Carragher] There was such
a buzz at the end of the game,
because we couldn't quite believe
what had just happened, really.
Everyone's going to town,
everyone's going out.
And Rafa Bentez's assistant said,
"If anyone comes in tonight before four
in the morning, you're getting fined."
Rafa almost made out that
he wasn't too aware of it, shall we say,
so it came from the assistant.
But I'm sure Rafa Bentez was well aware
that none of us did come
in before four in the morning.
[reporter] In travel agents
across the city,
they're frantically trying to find
fans flights to the final in Istanbul.
["Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"
by They Might Be Giants playing]
[fan] We've arrived
at John Lennon Airport at last.
[reporter] More than 30,000 Liverpool fans
are expected in Istanbul
for their Champions League final,
as they take on the favorites, AC Milan.
It'll be their team's
biggest match in 20 years.
[fan 2] This is the best ever.
Fifth in the league,
and we could be European Champions.
Unbelievable.
And Liverpool are going to lift
the cup for the fifth time!
Come on, the Redmen.
[reporter 2] In confident mood,
another planeload
makes its way through the terminal
in what is the biggest and busiest event
in the airport's 72-year history.
Just wanna get there. Can't wait.
We're gonna lift the cup. That'll be it.
This club's been built
on Champions League and European Cups.
No other British club can compare. We're
gonna bring it home, hopefully, tonight.
- [fans] Oh, when the Saints
- Oh, when the Saints
Go marching in
[fan 3] The best feeling ever, lad,
to have this in my hand.
The European Cup final ticket. Istanbul.
[They Might be Giants]
Istanbul was Constantinople
[fans] Rafa Bentez!
Rafa Bentez!
[reporter 2] For Reds supporters, it's not
a case of how you get here, just get here.
Planes, trains, trams, buses
Even the odd long-distance taxi.
[fans cheering]
[reporter 3] The streets of Istanbul
are now beginning to cram with people.
There are now no hotels left in the city.
Oh, it's marvelous! This is the best.
[reporter 4] Supporters on a pilgrimage
to see their team in Turkey.
To hope their heroes can win.
[song ends]
[fan] Come on, you can do it!
[Carragher] The closer
you get to the game,
the more I was convincing myself
that we could win.
But it was almost this realization
We're playing the best team in the world,
AC Milan.
[foreboding music playing]
[Carragher] When you go through the team,
you can't help but laugh.
Because it is just a who's who.
Name after name after name.
They've got Ancelotti, the greatest
Champions League manager of all time.
Maldini, one of the greatest defenders
the game has ever seen.
Ever.
Jaap Stam, a man mountain, who's
already won the Champions League before.
Clarence Seedorf, who had already won
the European Cup with two other clubs.
Gattuso, who had won
the Champions League with AC Milan.
And then they had Shevchenko,
who was the best striker in the world,
and arguably the best player
in the world at that time.
They're not just world-class players.
Some of the greatest players of all time.
[in Italian] We are feeling great.
We have achieved the objective
we set ourselves
at the beginning of the season.
Being here in Istanbul for the final.
[reporter in English] Do you know
how to score against Liverpool
and how to beat, Jerzy Dudek,
Polish goalkeeper?
- Yes, we know exactly how to do that.
- [reporters laughing]
[reporter] So tell me. Tell me how.
Tomorrow you'll see.
[reporters laughing]
[reporter] It's well past midnight here,
but there are still thousands of Liverpool
supporters around this one square.
Whatever happens on the pitch,
it seems Liverpool's fans have
come here intent on enjoying themselves.
- [fans cheering]
- [traditional Turkish music playing]
I can't sleep, because
tomorrow is the European Cup final.
- [music continues]
- [woman laughing hysterically]
[car horns honking]
[reporter 1] The excitement
is building here.
[reporter 2] With just hours to go before
Liverpool's biggest European game
for 20 years.
[reporter 3] Can Liverpool write their way
back into the history books?
[Hamann] Before we left for the stadium,
Rafa showed us a video.
It was all the European Cup wins
of Liverpool in the '70s and '80s.
[commentator] The European Cup
surely is won.
Bruce Grobbelaar again,
antics on the line.
Missed it!
Liverpool are European Champions!
For the fourth time.
What joy!
Merseyside is jubilant.
[Bentez in Spanish] When you initially
join a team, in this case Liverpool,
you learn things as you go.
And I started to realize what it means
for the fans, for the city,
and the emotions behind it all.
[in English] It touches you deep inside.
You want to do something for the city.
[Gerrard] That's the special connection.
The fans and the history is the club.
[Carragher] Being from Liverpool
as a Scouser,
when you see that,
you want a bit of that yourself.
You want to make your mark.
You want to be able
to give people that hope and belief.
[in Spanish] Part of our responsibility
is to make people feel pride.
When it was finished, we said,
"It's our turn to make history."
[foreboding music playing]
[fans singing in distance]
[commentator] Listen to this atmosphere.
[co-commentator] They're really going
to make themselves heard tonight.
[intense music playing]
[Carragher] Looking up,
it's just Liverpool everywhere.
A sea of red.
It's just about being laser-focused,
getting ready to go into battle.
[in Polish] So many moments of weakness
and so much criticism,
but here came an opportunity
to change everything.
[commentator in English] We're about
to get underway here.
Liverpool against AC Milan, the final of
the 2005 Champions League in Istanbul.
Here comes
the most important night of my life.
This was our chance to create history.
[whistle blowing]
[commentator] Liverpool begin,
and will look to start well here.
Traor, nearside the field,
and that was a very shaky ball from him.
[Bentez] Twenty-one years
waiting for this moment.
I said, "Don't make mistakes."
- [commentator] Kak. Across comes Traor.
- [whistle blows]
And the referee gives a free kick
early on here to Milan.
First test for Jerzy Dudek.
In goes the free kick
and the shot into the goal!
Maldini! A minute maybe,
only, of the game!
It's a wretched,
wretched start for Liverpool.
There's five or six players
in the Liverpool team
who haven't touched the ball,
and AC Milan are one-nil up.
[crowd exclaiming]
[co-commentator] The first thing
is not to concede a second one.
[commentator] Milan, on the break here.
Here's Shevchenko.
Shevchenko crosses. It's two-nil.
[unsettling music playing]
This is slipping away,
with the whole world watching.
[commentator] Kak. On towards Crespo.
Crespo's through. This could be three-nil!
And it is three-nil!
[co-commentator] It's been a shocking
half for Liverpool. Absolutely shocking.
[commentator] They're absolutely
all over the place.
[co-commentator] At three-nil, it is over.
[whistle blowing]
[commentator] There is
the half-time whistle.
No chance really for Liverpool.
I'm numb inside.
[Carragher] You felt embarrassed
to look up to the supporters.
We were going to create history
for all the wrong reasons.
[melancholy music playing]
[Carragher] When you're losing
three-nil at half-time,
if it's any other game, there'll be words.
There was none of that,
it was just silence.
I was just in a daze, I think we all were,
trying to take all in
what had just happened.
[Traor] I feel ashamed of the performance
of myself and the team.
But then, commotion does kick in.
[tense music playing]
There's a bit of emotion. "You should be
doing this. You should've had him."
Arguing and fighting, and,
"It's your fault. You're not doing this,
you're not doing that."
[Bentez in Spanish] It was clear
that the team was distraught.
I hear them, but I'm focused
on what I have to do now.
We have 15 minutes to change things.
Rafa tells Djimi Traor
that he's coming off.
He said, "Traor, shower."
"Traor, shower."
For me, it was like, game is finished.
Over.
He's devastated. He's been brought
off in the biggest game of his life.
Djimi goes for his shower.
Didi Hamann gets sent out to warm up,
because he's coming on at half-time.
My first reaction was,
"What am I meant to do now, Rafa?"
We're three-nil down against the World XI.
The chances of coming back
are next to nothing.
But I went outside, I start warming up,
and the last thing I see
is Djimi taking his kit off
and walking naked to the shower.
I'm two hands against the wall,
you know, just thinking.
I'm so disappointed with myself.
I knew I let down, not only like
my teammates, but the football club.
So I was like very, very
in the dark place, mentally.
[Carragher] So,
after Djimi goes for his shower,
the physio tells Rafa that Steve Finnan,
one of our defenders,
was injured and couldn't continue.
I just remember a little pause from Rafa.
And he just said, "Finnan, shower."
And then there's another pause from Rafa.
"Traor, out the shower." [laughing]
Rafa came, and said, "Djimi, you're in."
I was saying, like, "What do you mean?"
"Come on. Let's go back. You in."
Djimi comes back out, has to get changed
again, put all his kit back on.
Didi Hamann comes back in.
I'll never forget,
I went back to the dressing room,
and the first person I saw
was Djimi Traor,
who just walked in the shower.
I said, "I'm coming on." He said,
"Who's coming off?" "I don't know."
[laughing]
I've got no idea what's going on.
A little bit of chaos.
It was chaotic. Yeah, it was.
[clock ticking]
[Dudek in Polish] Rafa started
scribbling on the whiteboard.
[Bentez in English]
We need to find solutions.
And I was thinking about
how to find a solution.
In a situation of that magnitude,
you need more than tactics.
[in Polish] You hear the referee knocking
on the door, calling you for the 2nd half.
[in English] Everything went,
like, crazy. "Go back."
[in Polish] It was happening so fast
that I could barely follow.
[Carragher] Your mind's
just all over the place.
I've still got no idea what's going on.
Going out in that second half, there was
a fear. "This could be pretty horrific."
[Liverpool fans singing
"You'll Never Walk Alone"]
[Carragher] But I'll never forget,
in the tunnel coming out,
you could hear the supporters
singing, "You'll Never Walk Alone."
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
[Carragher] It was
almost sang like a hymn.
[Traor] Normally, if you are three-nil
down, fans will never sing for you.
But Liverpool fans were singing
"You'll Never Walk Alone."
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk
[Gerrard] The fans are still with us.
We can't go out on a whimper.
[Hamann] We just owed it
to these people to give it a go.
[commentator] Unless we get the most
incredible of responses from Liverpool,
they're not going to win it.
[whistle blowing]
[dramatic music playing]
[Dudek in Polish] We wanted
to show why we're here.
Stand together and try to do something.
[commentator] Milan beginning the 2nd half
the way they left off, with possession.
Long ball forward.
Hamann controls the ball.
Opportunity from Riise!
Header, Gerrard!
Yes, a goal from Steven Gerrard!
[fans cheering]
He waves to the fans over
on the far side. "Come on, believe!"
Milan three, Liverpool one, and maybe
a route back through Steven Gerrard.
[Bentez in Spanish] I started to realize,
while it's important
to play with your head,
you must never forget
to play with your heart.
[commentator] Hamann, 25 yards out.
Doesn't sh**t, but micer might.
All the way from Vladimir micer!
That's more like it here in Istanbul!
The game seemed to be
all over at half-time,
but maybe it's not
Mission: Impossible after all.
Milan three, Liverpool two.
[determined music playing]
[Gerrard] They know
that we're gonna fight for this,
and we're not going away.
The gloves are off.
[commentator] Liverpool suddenly
winning the tackles in midfield.
[Gerrard] Rafa wants me to release,
he wants me to gamble,
he wants me to make more forward runs.
[commentator] No team has come from
three-nil down in the European Cup final
to win the trophy.
This is the 50th.
[Carragher] It took me back to being a kid
in the schoolyard where
emotion just takes over,
and I was James Carragher there.
That kid
kicking a ball around the streets.
I remember just taking off with the ball,
and I just don't do that.
[commentator] And it's
Jamie Carragher for Liverpool.
Gerrard's there! Gerrard goes down under
challenge, and the penalty's been given.
[co-commentator] Now who's
going to take this penalty?
Steven Gerrard is the obvious choice.
Rafa used to change penalty takers
every game. It was a bit weird.
[commentator] It's gonna be Xabi Alonso.
Old memories, all these stories.
Rafa said, "Xabi, you have to take it."
But it was my first penalty
as a professional.
This 23-year-old lad
in his first season in England,
who's missed
half the season through injury.
[Alonso] I was feeling the moment,
the meaning of the penalty,
the lack of experience.
It was
so important for
for the club, for the game,
for me, for everyone.
[commentator] Alonso can complete
the most remarkable turnaround here.
[dramatic stinger]
[commentator] He saved it!
[sound cuts out]
[Carragher] It felt like time stood still.
[commentator] Alonso's there
for the rebound!
- [crowd cheering]
- And Mission: Impossible is accomplished!
Liverpool were three-nil down
five minutes ago!
And now look at that scoreline!
[co-commentator] There has never been a
Champions League final anything like this.
Wow!
That's the point where I thought
maybe this is written in the stars.
[commentator] We are possibly on the verge
of the greatest ever European Cup final.
[whistle blowing]
And we are going into extra time.
[tense music playing]
[whistle blowing]
[commentator] Toward Serginho,
who brings it down brilliantly.
Into the penalty area it goes!
Deflected away by Carragher.
Could have gone anywhere.
Could have gone into his own net.
We were under huge pressure from AC Milan.
You're throwing your body, you're
throwing everything in front of things.
We were hanging on for dear life.
[commentator] Kak's driven it across!
And Traor the hero!
[Traor] For me, that moment,
it was a second chance
for me to show my character,
my strength, and to show to
the rest of the world, like, who we are.
[commentator] Just three minutes
of extra time. Three-three.
Ball played in, header dive saved by
Dudek! Another brilliant save by Dudek!
How did he keep that out?
[in Polish] It was seconds, milliseconds.
I thought to myself,
"How did I save that?"
[commentator in English] Unbelievable
from the Polish goalkeeper.
[in Polish] All the criticism
I came under,
I had waited for this moment
until the very end.
[whistle blowing]
[commentator in English] And it will
be a penalty shootout.
An unbelievable football match.
Jamie Carragher is practically
manhandling Jerzy Dudek.
[in Polish] He started pushing me.
[in English] "Come on, Jerzy. Come on."
[in Polish] He was shouting.
[in English] Put them off.
You know, we've got to do it.
We're never going to be in this
position again. Remember 1984.
Remember Grobbelaar. Put them off.
[in Polish] I remember it to this day
when I close my eyes.
I see him wearing
his green jersey and red shorts,
and trying to distract the opponent.
[commentator in English] Missed it!
Do anything you can. Anything.
I said to myself, "Okay, Bruce did the
spaghetti legs. He moved a little bit."
"Okay, maybe maybe I do a little bit."
[commentator] Dudek. Against the Serginho.
Who misses!
Best possible start for Liverpool.
Didi Hamann will take
the first of Liverpool's penalties.
Then Rafa came up and said,
"You take the first one."
Bentez knew everything about penalties.
He said to me that
you've got a 91% better chance
when you hit it above hip
height to my left.
[commentator] Hamann,
to give Liverpool the advantage.
That'll do! And Liverpool are in front.
As Dudek waves both arms at Pirlo.
Pirlo moves in. And Dudek makes the save!
Here he comes.
Dida moves. Moves the wrong way.
Two-nil to Liverpool.
Tomasson.
He's scored.
John Arne Riise.
Ooh, but Dida reached it.
So Milan are back in it.
Kak could equalize here.
Emphatically taken by Kak.
micer. A long, long run-up.
Here he comes.
And he's slipped into the net!
Liverpool lead three-two.
If Milan miss this,
then Liverpool win the trophy.
The greatest striker in Europe
at the moment, Andriy Shevchenko.
He wants the ball immediately.
Of course, if he misses here,
Liverpool, against all the odds,
have won the Champions League.
[in Polish] Rafa, when it came
to statistics, was the best.
[in English] We had a code.
[in Polish] The goal was
divided into six squares.
He shared this information.
"Andriy Shevchenko likes 1 and 4."
[exciting music building]
[commentator in English] Shevchenko!
Dudek saves
for Liverpool!
And against all the odds,
the team who were 3-0 down at half-time
Liverpool have won the Champions League!
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart.
This is amazing.
A night they will never forget.
Liverpool are champions of Europe.
Unbelievable.
[commentator] There has never been
a footballing story as dramatic,
and this is just incredible.
Brilliant.
[commentator] Liverpool,
2005!
[Carragher] Football will never
get any better than that, for me.
It was something that
you didn't believe could ever happen.
Was beyond your wildest dreams.
Need someone to shake me, wake me up!
- The cup's back at home where it belongs!
- Yeah!
[Traor] I went through, like,
so many very, very low moments.
But when you go back, it was
a fantastic journey to be part of it.
It was a great, great time.
[Alonso] You feel so fulfilled
for what you have achieved,
for how much it meant for the fans,
for the city.
I'm in dreamland! [laughing]
You are now part of the history
of Liverpool, and that's
That's a great feeling, a great privilege.
We showed
that it's never over till it's over.
To see how much it means to the people,
that's something I'll never forget.
[Gerrard] It was a difficult journey,
an emotional ride
but the reality is I'm a fan
and I'm one of them.
I was the lucky one who could go
and try and do it.
[Carragher] This was
what you dream of as a kid.
You know, I wanted to be part of something
that was looked back on in years to come.
I got to live out that dream.
[Bentez in Spanish] It's not like
I don't feel the emotions.
It's just difficult to express
because there are so many emotions.
You feel pride, you feel satisfaction.
You feel special.
[Gerrard in English] I look back
at Rafa now and think
he's the best coach that I've worked with.
I didn't think it at the time,
but now for my career,
and someone who helped me
take me to the next level,
Rafa Bentez played
a massive part in that.
[Carragher] When you look back
at history in football,
there's been better players,
teams, managers at this club,
but I don't think
there's ever been a greater moment
in Liverpool's history than Istanbul.
[upbeat music playing]
[music ends]
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Untold UK: Liverpool's Miracle of Istanbul (2026)
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